Premalu, a review

Naslen, Mamitha, Sangeeth & Akhila

Girish A. D. is a god of small things. Third in his series of coming of age movies flavored with dashes of rom-com spice, Premalu is a light entertainer/chick-flick with an immensely like-able young cast. The director Girish A.D threads together a narrative from nothing but stringing together tiny pearls from everyday life, just like he he had done in his two previous directorial outings - Thanneermathan Dinangal(transl - Watermelon Days, 2019) and Super Sharanya(2022.) Both of which were also utterly delightful.

Shyam Mohan & Mamitha Baiju

The script, the framing of the scenes and even seemingly inconsequential dialog between the characters bring out the depth of observation of the movie's creator. While it is a run of the mill trope of boy-meets-girl from a slightly different social milieu, it is the attention to detail and impeccable casting that makes Premalu a winner. 

Naslen K. Gafoor, Mamitha Baiju, Sangeeth Prathap, Shyam Mohan playing the four main characters steal the show. The only badly developed character (the director or writer's fault, not the actor's) is Mathew portrayed by Mathew Thomas, which was a comic exaggeration of someone on the spectrum. 

It is an urban film relatable to majority of the  newer generation film-goers in India - maybe you have lived in a different city with room mates for your first job, maybe you went to an engineering college outside your hometown and fell in love with a girl and it didn't work out as you had planned, maybe you worked in a software company for your first job, maybe even after four years of college you still remained an aimless kite, maybe you will find something of yourself in this movie, maybe you won't. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

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Pakeezah (1972), Meena Kumari and Trains

Meena Kumari's character Sahibjaan in Pakeezah has an obsession with trains, just like me. Although the root cause of our obsessions are vastly different. She almost met (she was sleeping, so she didn't get a chance to meet in the conventional sense) a handsome stranger on an overnight train journey, who left a note of appreciation about her soft feet in Urdu. Even expletives sound like poems in Urdu, so can't blame the lady if she fell head over heels reading a poetic note about her heels. 

Ethereal Meena Kumari, staring out of the window of the train, right after she has read the mysterious note

My fascination with trains could've started in my childhood filled with multi-day, overnight train journeys that took our family to places known & cherished or unknown & magical. If you lived in India in the 20th century and loved/had to travel, there was no escaping the trains. That was probably why  connecting the story-dots in director Kamal Amrohi's story is the omnipresent Indian Railways.

Pakeezah, Meena Kumari's magnum opus created for her by her husband (later ex) Kamal Amrohi is a grand visual poem which took almost fifteen years in the making. The majority of the work happening during the years 1964 to 1971 and the movie was released a couple of months before Meena Kumari's death at 38 in March 1972.

Meena Kumari designed all her wonderfully pirouette-able and elegantly colorful dance costumes for the movie. The music and the songs which can single-handedly make or break a Bollywood musical was composed by Ghulam Muhammad and the lyrics were penned by some of the best Urdu poets of the era like Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kamal Amrohi and Kaifi Bhopali. The cinematography and the production design must have cost a pretty penny.

It is a Muslim-social about a tawaif (a Muslim courtesan or dancing girl) who falls in love with a gentleman in a history-repeats type of situation where the same kind of doomed love affair happens to a mother and her daughter, with two different gentlemen, of course. Both the mother and the daughter are played by Meena Kumari, but there in no need for these characters to share screen time as mother dies after childbirth and the daughter is only shown after she is in her late teens as she takes on the role of the dancer-courtesan. Ashok Kumar plays the love interest in the first affair and Raj Kumar's impeccable Hindustani diction won him the role of the younger Meena Kumari's lover.

The tumultuous life of Meena Kumari, the actor, is evident on her face that ages a decade during the making and completion of the movie. Meena Kumari, while she does not look like she is 17, is convincingly young as the younger (daughter) courtesan when the film starts out. But the film which seems to have been shot chronologically shows a beaten, puffy actor ravaged by depression and ill-health, as it progresses past the half way mark.

The lovers - Raj Kumar and Meena Kumari, accidentally meet again, during a train journey towards the end of the movie

Pakeezah is a window into a bygone era and world where tawaifs and nawabs used to exist along with teak-paneled Indian railway coaches and horse-drawn tangas. Much of the actions of the characters cannot be explained or justified in the current context nor is the century old societal framework comprehensible while I am typing and gazing at the neighbor's Tesla parked on their driveway. It is a splendid period piece, elegantly crafted, a fitting final tribute to one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema - Meena Kumari, and totally woman-'owned'. 

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Bhoothakalam

Shane Nigam knows his strengths and chose the right story, location and director for his production house - Shane Nigam Film's maiden(?) venture. - Bhoothakalam. The angst ridden, depressed, down on his luck, angry and scared young man from Kochi is a role tailor-made for Shane. He is not going to lose his Kochi accent anytime, why even take a risk when he has a stake in production?

Bhoothakalam (transl. The Past,) Rahul Sadasivan's second directorial outing after Red Rain (2013) is a slow burn psychological horror/ghost story.  Shane and veteran actor Revathy play the leads as a depressed mother and an equally depressed son who got handed a load of generational trauma on top of his helplessness. They both have outdid themselves in the acting department, although when it comes to Shane I felt that he just had to act as himself on a bad hair day. For her role in Bhoothakalam Revathy won the Kerala state award for the best actor (female) in a lead role for the first time in her career, which has spanned almost four decades. 

Bhoothakalam (2022) is one of the serious ghost stories I have watched in Malayalam after long, along the lines of Sixth Sense or The Others, but on a much lighter budget. There are no cheap tricks like jump scares or odd camera angles as it moves steadfastly towards a satisfying climax.

Just like Rahul Sadasivan's next film, BramaYugam (2024), Bhoothakalam too is plenty open to interpretation. Armchair psychoanalysts and hidden meaning seekers have the opportunity for the metaphorical peeling of a few psychological onions. This is considering both the lead characters have issues which need intervention by mental health professionals. Under those circumstances it is easy to explain away the supernatural as tricks of the mind, shared psychotic disorder, drug induced hallucinations and the like. 

But I would rather watch Bhoothakalam as a ghost story it is. We have not had a good one for long and Bhoothakalam builds up slowly but surely towards a flash-freeze spine-chilling end.

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Bramayugam

The age of black and white is here in director Rahul Sadasivan's The Age of Madness or BramaYugam. It was a brilliant idea to post-process the entire movie to monochrome black-n-white which not only elevates the story but also makes it easy for the production design team. If the mana (translation: mansion) in the movie was in color it would have looked like a stage prop strongly giving off western false-facade vibes. 

The cinematography by Shehnad Jalal is enchanting making the mansion a strong contender for the supporting lead. Here below is one of the powerful introductory shots from the movie where Arjun Ashokan's character, Thevan wandering lost in the jungle finally chances upon what looks like an abandoned mansion.

BramaYugam, while it may not be considered as a horror movie in the traditional sense, is a quality period-horror or psychological thriller. The tight setting of the eerie abandoned mana and its jungle environs, the three main characters who are pretty much the only characters in the story and a yakshi to add an extra dollop of Malayali authenticity, all hold the well directed movie together. 

The casting is on point. Mammotty essays the role of Kudomon Potty, the lord of the dark mansion with Sidharth Bharathan as the caretaker and cook of the mansion. Thevan is a paanan or a traveling folk singer who had escaped the Portuguese slave traders in this 17th century Malabar tale, who seeks refuge in the mana. 

Arjun Ashokan's portrayal of Thevan is raw and intense, capturing the essence of a man trapped in a world of shadows and secrets. With his half a century of acting experience Mammotty leads the charge of the trio of characters, while  Siddharth Bharathan's portrayal as the servant of the house is not far behind the other two either. Amalda Liz's Yakshi who has no dialog and a few minutes screen time in the entire movie is the only miscasting (in my eye.) She has a very modern face for 17th century female vampire. 

BramaYugam is a roller-coaster ride through a world where nothing is as it seems, and danger and dark secrets lurk behind every shadow. An atmospheric horror (or thriller?) movie that cleverly uses monochrome to take us back to a bygone era of yakshis and chathans, it is a successful cinematic experiment and a must-watch.

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Love and Loss: Amy Bloom's In Love & Netflix's One Day

Reading Amy Bloom's In Love helped me understand Robin William's final act. While there are nine states (Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Colorado, Montana, New Jersey, Maine and Vermont) and the District of Columbia which have right to die laws, you cannot have a physician assisted suicide without satisfying certain conditions. First, you have to be a resident of one of these states to have the right to die, more importantly you need to get medically assessed as having only six months to live. Which means you have to be almost at death's door to use this right-to-die card to have a physician-assisted suicide in the US of A.  Incurable degenerative diseases like Lewy body dementia (that Robin Williams had) or Alzheimer's or Parkinson's that will slowly hollow out a person over years are not excuses good enough to have the right to die in any of the nine states or DC. This is where Switzerland steps in.  Remember the name Dignitas and Pegasos, just in case.

Just in case was the reason why I decided to read Amy Bloom's In Love after I chanced upon a blurb about the book somewhere. Memoirs focusing on a single event in a writer's life and its aftermath is not my favorite form of non-fiction, but the information provided by the author and her style of writing kept In Love engaging for me.

During the same period I was going through Ms. Bloom's love-n-loss heavy memoir I also accidently started watching a chick-lit(?) series One Day on Netflix. Like Amy Bloom, Ambika Mod's Emma Morley is a bookish ethnic girl who becomes a writer and finds a soulmate in handsome, British upper class Dexter Mayhew.

Emma and Dex in One Day

One Day is based on the book of the same name written by David Nicholls, and tells the story of Emma and Dexter who meet and spend a night together on their last day at the university in 1988 and decide to meet each other every year afterwards, on the same day. There was also a 2011 movie based on the novel, starring Anne Hathaway as Emma. 

I loved the way Emma's character is written. Her one-liners are profoundly deep and funny. Leo Woodall's Dex is hurtlingly handsome and posh. They are from the opposite ends of the spectrum, both socially and intellectually and we, the viewers, desperately want them to be together, to see how it will all turn out. The writing and the script makes sure the audience are invested in Emma and Dex although the plot line of boy and girl from different sides of the track is an over-used one.

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Reading Ramayana in the Roaring (Twenty) Twenties

Ramayana and Mahabharata are two great epics from the Indian subcontinent. Many of the thirty three million Hindu gods and goddesses make guest appearances in these two epics. Some like Vishnu gets to play the main characters in his two popular avatars, Rama and Krishna, in these two mega mythological texts in Sanskrit. Bhagvad Gita, the best known Indian scripture, is a part of a section of Mahabharata called the Bhishma Parva.

In my mind Hinduism is the contemporary of Greek religion (Hellenism) and Indians worshipping the million gods is how West would have been, had it not been won over by the trinity of Jesus, Allah and Yhwh. Both Hinduism and Hellenism are polytheistic featuring their main players in two opposing teams - Devas and Asuras for Hinduism corresponding to Olympians and Titans for the Greeks. 

Like Hades, Zeus and Poseidon, Hinduism has Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer), a slightly different yet similar take as the Greeks' dividing the Big 3 by assigning them the three realms of the heavens, the oceans and the underworld. If the monotheistic Abrahamic religions had not overrun and relegated Greek and Roman gods to the mythical pavilion in the western world, I am sure we would have wished Zeusspeed instead of Godspeed.

Why are we talking about these epics now? Recently in my search for coffee-table books, (that is what I mainly use the local library for these days,) I chanced upon an illustrated Ramayana. The last time I heard Ramayana (def. Sanskrit: Rama's Journey) in full was when my mother narrated me the whole story every evening over several months during my grade school days. Two score years seemed to be the right interval for a refresher.

The Illustrated Ramayana published by DK is a well written, well put together, well illustrated book, suited for both the advanced Ramayana scholar, who can find plenty of things to nitpick or for a beginner like me.  The illustrations which range from Raja Ravi Varma to Pahadi to Mughal paintings to glorious temple art from South India or Angkor Wat to Indonesia to performances and native art forms by artists from Thailand or Rajasthan(India) or  Nepal, makes every page a visual treat leading the narration forward.

Like every great epic, there are thousands retellings of the epic in every region and every language South-East and East Asia. The book also draws from these alternate story paths and present them in conjunction with the original narrative, supposedly written in Sanskrit by sage Valmiki. Valmiki, known as the first poet (adi kavi), because Ramayana is the first poem, like Alfred Hitchcock, has a weakness for cameos. In Ramayana he is a an important character in the seventh and last canto (or kanda in Sanskrit) called Uttara Kanda and he is also present in Bala Kanda as the narrator and the live-in tutor for Rama's twin boys - Lava and Kusha.

The oldest retrieved manuscript of Ramayana only contains 5 kandas and are missing the first kanda - Bala Kanda and the last one, Uttara Kanda. Because of the stylistic differences and narrative contradictions many scholars believe that these two were later additions to the epic and therefore Valmiki didn't write himself into the story. The five kandas, excluding Bala Kanda (1st canto) and Uttara Kanda (7th and final canto) are Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishkinda Kanda, Sundara Kanda and Yudha Kanda. 

Almost every religion that started in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism have their versions of Ramayana. So does almost every country in South-East and East Asia, except perhaps Vietnam. Every one of them highlights the same ultimate and supreme ideal Rama stands for - "Dharma"  which is what every human being should try to achieve - the right way of living through moral and virtuous conduct. Practicing dharma is the only way to get rid of our karmic baggage and attain salvation. A heavy message, nevertheless, a beautiful book.

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Leonard Cohen: Songs and Films

Twenty years ago in 2004 was my first summer with Leonard Cohen. I discovered him for the first time during those days of midnight sun in Alaska. He played while I was on the road in my red Chevy S10, and his baritone ‘golden’ voice sang about sixties girls like Marianne and Suzanne while I was at home.

a young Leonard Cohen, writing poems in his bathtub

While romance was/is not exactly my cuppa, there was some kind of philosophical gravitas and mysticism to this poet/writer turned-poet-singer, who climbed a whole mountain side, to wash his eyelids in the rain (ref. So long, Marianne), while he was singing about his lady loves.

Over the years in addition to dipping into the deep well of Cohen’s soulful lyrics delivered in his slow drag voice, I have had the opportunity to watch some Leonard Cohen documentaries too. The first one “Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Leonard Cohen: An Intimate Look into a Poet's Life (1965)” showcasing Cohen as a young poet is (IMHO) better than Netflix’s 1922 documentary “Hallelujah:Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song” taking its title from Cohen’s famous song of the same name. To me, Cohen is more that Hallelujah which has been done to dust, with so many covers.

Fata Morgana(1971), Werner Hertzog’s art-house psychedelic film features Cohen songs like Suzanne, Avalanche against the stark sands of Sahara desert.

I leave you with one of his best lyrics, from his poem/song Anthem - “Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in”

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Circe by Madeline Miller

I met many Greek Gods for the first time last week. Thank you, Circe and Madeline Miller. I did not reach this far in life without hearing about Achilles' heel or Midas's touch or Herculean effort or Pandora's box, but they were just that - phrases, bearing the stamp of western civilization's greatest mythology, which was a gift from the Greeks. We all know what they say about Greeks bearing gifts.

This is the first book of fiction I have read in a long while and relished, even though it is very close to the genre of fantasy fiction I absolutely abhor. I am humbled once again by the realization that there are no absolutes, everything is relative. 

There are authors who are masters of retelling the classics. Madeline Miller is one of them. In Circe, she recasts the most infamous female character from Homer's The Odyssey and makes her a free woman, thinker, the maker of her own destiny and the world's first witch. Circe, opens with the sentence, "When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist." Which was a witch.

Through Circe's magical life journey clueless readers like me get  a crash course in who is who of Greek mythology. If I still don't get it, my son has recommended Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, although I don't think I will need it. Madeline Miller is an extraordinary story-teller, her prose is lush and breathtaking. Circe is a beautifully written novel, where you as the reader gets a front row seat to watch the parade of gods and most of them are as human - fallible, vain and unique as we are.

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Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

 It was like opening a time capsule from the seventies. The movie is earthy, with shag carpet, a Gen X latchkey kid and long haired dudes. Unlike period movies of the sixties and seventies made now, there is a raw, unpolished look to this interesting movie from 1974 starring Ellen Burstyn and Kris Kristofferson. I didn't even realize till I finished the movie that it was directed by Martin Scorsese.

We follow Alice, a single mother with a penchant for co-dependency and her precocious 12 year old son Tommy, in search of a place in the sun and a living wage, with their ultimate destination set as Monterey, CA.  This movie's female-centric story and its mature treatment of the theme was something I had not have expected from Scorsese with his later movies like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Gangs of New York which are all very masculine. In fact when you think about it Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is an odd-one in Scorsese's filmography stretching to his most recent one - Killers of the Flower Moon. 

The performances by the leads like Burnstyn (Alice), Kristofferson (David), Harvey Keitel and Alfred Lutter as Tommy are convincing and realistic. Alfred Lutter who reminded me of a young Bill Gates' went onto become a CTO many famous tech companies including Lynda.com

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My 2023 list of interesting TV shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime

----------------------------------- NETFLIX SHOWS ---------------------------------------

Bodies turns detective work into a time-traveling comedy, where four sleuths from different time periods in London team up to solve the ultimate whodunit. It satisfies my time traveling craving for the season.

The Fall of the House of Usher : The series is a wild, haunted romp that turns Poe's classic tale into a dysfunctional sitcom-meets-horror mashup.  It's Netflix's way of turning horror into a comedy of errors, making Usher's fall a laugh-out-loud tumble into the absurdly supernatural.

Guns and Gulabs Season 1 is like a crazy curry of '90s nostalgia and gangster drama. The cast is doing their thing, living on their own terms, and you can't help but be part of the ride. Raj and DK deserve a shout-out for the killer screenplay.

Kohrra is not your typical murder mystery. With knock-out performances and a screenplay that packs a punch, it's like peeling back layers of a mystery onion. Punjab's not-so-pretty realities like drugs, forced NRI marriages, and a sprinkle of patriarchy drama form the background of the story. The characters are a hot mess in the best way, fighting personal battles while solving the big mystery.

Beef: Starting from a road rage incident which then leads off to a cascading series of escalating incidents, 'Beef' explores the human condition with a raw, relatable touch. It is a gripping drama about two people living parallel lives in different circumstances. Money, status, and mental health are key topics covered in this series with a unique Asian American cultural twist

MH370 The Plane That Disappeared: The series navigates the complexities surrounding the disappearance of Flight MH370, shedding light on the emotional toll on families, the relentless search efforts, and the lingering questions that resonate globally. It's a poignant blend of investigative journalism and human narratives and expertly steers clear of sensationalism to present a respectful examination of an enduring mystery.

Cunk on Earth:  A mockumentary gem that simultaneously pokes fun at and revels in the absurdities of our historical narrative. The comedic timing is impeccable, and Cunk's deadpan delivery (Diane Morgan at her comedic best) makes even the most mundane historical tidbits downright hilarious.

-------------------------- AMAZON PRIME SHOWS -----------------------------------

Dahaad Season 1: Dahaad is a stellar crime thriller set in the heart of rural Rajasthan, India, exposing the deep-seated biases and injustices ingrained in the region's culture. Sonakshi Sinha shines as Anjali, a determined police officer challenging societal norms. It is based on a true story, the series keeps viewers on the edge, skillfully unveiling the twisted mind of a serial killer.

The Power Season 1 is  a thought-provoking exploration of societal upheaval in a world where women command electric abilities. The writing strikes a balance between drama and the weighty implications of a world transformed. Strap in for a journey where the real shocks aren't just in the superpowers but in the societal currents they unleash. The show adeptly navigates the complexities of power dynamics, instigating a paradigm shift that is both electrifying and deeply reflective.

Wilderness Season 1: Liv and Will, the seemingly golden couple, take their British charm to the Big Apple. The couple's cross-country trip to iron out wrinkles in their relationship turns into a wild rollercoaster of emotions, and suddenly, that dream holiday takes a detour into a living nightmare. 'Wilderness' isn't just a twisted love story; it's a journey into the chaos of relationships, proving that even the best-laid plans can go off the rails. Jenna Coleman is captivating and capitalizes on a well written female lead character, but most of other characters didn't the same kind of attention from the screenwriters.

Vadhandhi : The Fable of Veloni:  Eight captivating episodes centering around the mysterious death of a young woman, setting off a web of deception. SJ Suryah, in the role of Sub Inspector Vivek, skillfully navigates the intricate investigation, revealing layers of lies and deceit. Sanjana, portraying the beautifully haunting Velonie, adds a magnetic charm to the narrative, owning her role effortlessly. Vadandhi may have its flaws, but it's a compelling watch, showcasing the creators' mastery in crafting suspenseful narratives.

Hush Hush Season 1, with its women-centric vibe, shines a spotlight on the talents of Juhi Chawla, Karishma Tanna, Shahana Goswami, Kritika Kamra, Soha Ali Khan and Ayesha Jhulka. The ensemble cast plays a crucial role in weaving a narrative that delves into friendship, secrets, and the highs and lows of contemporary women's experiences. 

When I look at my Amazon Prime picks I realize that these are all series which are either women-centric or has strong lead characters who are women.  Prime also has more quality international content which is not just Korean.

BTW this is how a blog post would look if it was written by generative AI, like this post was :-) Will be switching back to the human mode in the new year. Happy 2024!

Writing Credits for this post : ChatGPT 3.5, the free version.

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Best Books: My 2023 list

This is one of those customary end of the year lists.  My 'book' reading habit is on life support so I thought it would be a short list I could easily convert into a quick post. I could put the blame of the slow demise of my book reading skills on aging, doom-scrolling internet forums where wisdom (debatable) is delivered through strangers' comments in 8.25 seconds or lesser, or my ADD. Or it could be because the same content delivered by books is now being delivered to the same dopamine centers of the brain the by streaming services?

All the books I read, I consider my best reading of the year. Otherwise I would not have made it to the end as there are more books I gave up in the first chapter or two than the total number of books I read this year.

Here are the four books I read this year and all of them are remarkable because they were able to keep my attention till the very last page. There is also a bonus book - a book you should not read, even if you maybe interested in trains like I am.

Deepti Naval's  A Country Called Childhood : A memoir

Deepti Naval is one of my favorite actors and intellectuals of Indian cinema. A Country Called Childhood is my kind of memoir - it is not about trauma or addiction or tragedy or conquering adversity. It is about the actor's childhood in northern India,  simple, and minimal yet resonant with images of the fifties and sixties India. This is how you should write about your childhood and this is how Indians writing in English should write in English.

Tony Joseph's  Early Indians : The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From

I have written a review of Early Indians here  >> The journalist author Tony Joseph focuses on the group(s) that migrated out of Africa, in three different waves, at three different time periods and became the ancestors of all the people currently inhabiting the Indian sub-continent. It is an extremely interesting and easy to read book based on anthropological, archaeological findings till now and the explosion of DNA evidence and research papers published since 2015 based on these DNA findings. 

Balachandran Chullikkad's  Chidambara Smarana (Malayalam, memoir)

Balachandran Chullikkad's memoir Chidambara Smarana (pub. 01/2001) reads like a struggling young man's journal entries from 1980-90's India. The rest of my review here.

Andy Weir's  Project Hail Mary 

This is my first Andy Weir. Probably the last too.  I was impressed by The Martian, the movie and thought I should give Project Hail Mary a try before it became a movie. Project Hail Mary is based on a good (not novel) concept with a Marvel-esque hero who is a modest middle school science teacher, written to succeed. This unassuming superhero who wears his cape and underwear inside his spacesuit would have failed in real world without access to Youtube, Google Translate, Google Search, chatGPT and Wikipedia, but for the purposes of this book, all of these sites reside in his head.

The bonus book you should stay away from if you have a liking for Indian non fiction and a sweet spot for trains is The Great Indian Railways: A Cultural Biography by Arup K. Chatterjee.  The author seems to have been too wrapped up in his own 'brilliant' command of English, which was too pedantic, stiff and graceless that I had to give it up after a few pages. Here is Chatterjee starting a paragraph talking about something. It has to be about trains as the book is about them. I think this paragraph may even have something to do with train dining cars.                                                                        

"Second, it perpetuates the reification of labour. Accordingly labour forces of railroad history are meant to be usurped into a memory of personal aristocratic adventures. The motif of culinary details has a very subtle role in accentuating architecture, and those of architecture in establishing an enduring imperial monumentality."

What the heck was that?

This is the problem I have with many Indian writers who write in English. Their tone is pedantic and disconnected. Their prose is full of long winded sentences that lose their meaning on the way while the writers are busy showing off their mastery of Queen's English. They should all read Shashi Tharoor or Suketu Mehta or Deepti Naval. It could be their new year resolution.

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Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (transl. A Northern Ballad of Valor) is Malayalam literary giant M.T. Vasudevan Nair's retelling of a sub plot from Vadakkan Pattukal (transl. Northern Ballads), directed by Hariharan. Mammootty essays the role of Chandu Chekavar, a negative character in the ballads, who was given new life and a positive spin by the magic of M.T's pen. In 1989, this film (along with Mathilukal) brought Mammotty his first Bharath award - India's national award for the best male actor in a leading role. It also won the best screenplay award at the national level.

Mammootty as Chandu and Madhavi as Unniarcha in Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (1989)

Malayalam movies nor audience are big on historical dramas, unlike the rest of India or south India. It was an ambitious project for the eighties. Comparing the magnum opus-es of the present day like PS1 or Baahubali, the production design of this eighties movie is almost at the level of a school play. But the screenplay and dialog is beyond compare. The casting and the acting elevates the frames and takes your eyes away from the plastic bead necklaces and cardboard sets.

In addition to Mammootty, Madhavi and Suresh Gopi, Balan K. Nair, Captain Raju, Geetha, Rajalakshmi, V.K. Sreeraman, Sukumari and Sanjay Mitra play other important characters. The soundtrack had some memorable tracks that still maintains their irresistable charm, all these years later.

Madhavi as Unniarcha, Mammootty as Chandu Chekavar and Suresh Gopi as Aromal Chekavar

While Mammootty's Chandu is one of the most unforgettable characters in Malayalam cinema ever, the hero, the villain and the creator of this landmark movie is M.T. Vasudevan Nair. M.T, the author is quite a maestro when it comes to giving under-represented mythical and historical characters their due, by offering the readers/audience a different and nuanced perspective of the character through his work. Before resurrecting and reshaping Chandu Chekavar's traitorous destiny half a millennia after the original ballads (which were based on true life stories of the warriors of north Malabar in the medieval era) were composed, M.T had successfully broken the ground for such character facelifts in his brilliant novel, Randamoozham in 1984.

Randamoozham  (transl. The Second Turn) is his retelling of the world of Bhimasena, the second in line of the Pandava clan in Mahabharata who was always pushed to the sidelines by righteous first-born Yudhishtira and the brave and glamorous younger brother Arjuna. It is one of my favorite Malayalam novels ever.

After re-watching Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha as an adult, I realize Chandu's cinematic and literary makeover was at the cost of shifting the blame to other lead characters. Aaromal Chekavar and Unniarcha drew the short straw in M.T's version of the story. I don't remember any of this kind of passing-the-buck happening in Randamoozham?

Aromal, the original hero of the ballad becomes a one-dimensional guy much in contrast to the legendary multi-faceted hero that he was. Instead of urumis and swords he should have been using, under M.T's masterful character correction, he is left with just an axe (to grind, with Chandu.) 

Unniarcha, the fabled warrior princess of Poothuram, is stricken by an acute case of men-writing-women in Malayalam. As the story takes place in the medieval times the focus is less on women's body parts and more on their fickle emotions like deceit, pretense and cunning. These universal characteristics of womenkind are embodied by Unniarcha in the movie and Chandu's dialogs to Archa (written by M.T) are used to rub it in at turning points in the movie to paint her as the fall guy (gal.)

Despite these persona revisions, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha is a watershed movie for Malayalam movie industry. A native ballad, re-written for screen by one of the masterful talents of Malayalam literature, performed by some of the best actors in their prime against the backdrop of a spectacular soundtrack, no other historical or mythological costume drama has ever come close to it in terms of overall impact. In 1989 it was the longest running Malayalam movie in theaters ever, running for more than one year at Sangham theater, Kozhikode and the biggest blockbuster of the year.

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Marty (1955)

 Landed on Marty after Amazon Prime suggested I watch Marty next after watching Dead End. It was past midnight and Marty was only 90 minutes long and boasted 4 Oscars from 1955 including the best picture, best director and best actor. Why not? Marty it was, to top off the night.

Marty is the story of Marty Piletti, a mid thirties bachelor butcher, living with his Italian American mother in the Bronx of the fifties. Like mid-thirties bachelors the world-over Marty too is harangued by his mother to marry and bring a girl home as soon as he can. But it is not easy for Marty, played by Ernest Borgnine, he is no Humphrey Bogart at forty five charming the socks of a nineteen year old Lauren Bacall. Marty is a stocky 35-year old butcher who ends up standing on the sidelines at the local dance hall the entire night on any given Saturday.

As luck would have it on one of those Saturdays he meets the female Marty. Betsy Blair (Gene Kelley's first wife) plays Clara who is a high school chemistry teacher, which I believe must have been a quite nerdy occupation for women of that era, who at 29 is also having a hard timing finding a life partner. Blair was one of the actors blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Gene Kelley, her husband had to strong arm the producers and threaten them he would quit the movie he was acting in if they didn't give the role to Blair.

Ernest Borgnine as Marty and Betsy Blair as Clara in Delbert Mann's Marty

This Delbert Mann movie feels like an international movie set in Bronx, where the inter-generational chaos of an Italian American joint family is on full display. Its relatability and down-to-earth script and cast might be why it became the first film ever to win the prestigious Palme d'Or when the award was introduced in 1955.

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Ozhivukaalam: A review of Bharathan's 1985 film

This was a movie I watched in the theater when it was released, one ozhivukaalam (transl ~ vacation or summer vacation), a rarity in our family.  We usually never went to watch new movies as we had the film club membership which showcased older, classic or indie movies which were deemed worthy of our time and money (= zero money spent, as these were free.) I remember my mother took us to watch Ozhivukaalam, being the reader that she is, my guess is the irresistible combo of Padmarajan's script and Bharathan's direction might have been the draw for her.

Prem Nazir, Sreevidya and Rohini in Ozhivukaalam (1985)

While I did like the idea of Rohini as a modern college girl I saw in the posters of Ozhivukaalam, I was not thrilled at the noticeable absence of Rahman. They were the teen heartthrob pairing those days, like Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Geller. Not only was Rahman anywhere to be seen, it had Prem Nazir and Sreevidya - an older pair whose chemistry I had no interest in cringe-watching. I don't think I was really impressed after watching it, except that Rohini's role as an independent thinking teen who got a video camera as a gift, I thought, might start a trend of all girls receiving cameras as gifts.

Indian Railways featuring Rohini and Sreevidya

Re-watching it again after almost forty years I realize it is a very modern treatment of a slightly controversial subject - remarriage of a widow. This would definitely be a boring movie for grade school kids. Padmarajan's script holds the movie tight and contemporary. The casting is perfect and the location - Vadakara Sand banks is even more so. In addition to the main cast of Prem Nazir and Sreevidya who play the older couple  planning to get married and Rohini as Sreevidya's fiesty college going teen, Karamana Janardhanan Nair, Jalaja bring up the supporting cast. 

Rohini, Prem Nazir & Sreevidya in Ozhivukalam (1985)

Ozhivukalam is a well written and directed movie except for the twist at the end which anyone can see coming from a mile away, if they have watched a few Indian (any language) movies, which puts the movie squarely back in its era and palatable for the eighties audience.

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Chidambara Smarana : A review of Balachandran Chullikkad's memoir

Balachandran Chullikkad's memoir Chidambara Smarana (pub. 01/2001) reads like a struggling young man's journal entries from 1980-90's India. Characters played by Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Mukesh and co. in the late eighties and nineties' Malayalam movies would be Chullikkad if they were devoid of their trademark humor and had overdosed on pathos. The glass seems to be half empty or almost completely empty through Chullikkad's lens/pen whereas Dasan and Vijayan saw it half full, almost abrim with the invisible possibility of more water that may fill and cause an overflow of good fortune at any moment. None of that optimism can be seen in Chidambara Smarana (literal transl~Memory of Chidambaram.)

Balachandran Chullikkad was a fire brand young poet in the eighties and nineties Kerala. Although I was a reader of Malayalam poetry during those days, somehow I seem to have missed most of his poetry. I had read some of his contemporaries like V. Madhusoodanan Nair, Sugatha Kumari and Kureeppuzha Sreekumar but the only poem I remember of Chullikkad is Ghazal. Over the years Ghazal had become a personal meme of sort which we would bring up any time there is a Hindustani singer in the frame, in front of a predominantly Malayali audience, "there goes Ghulam Ali, singing his wail of a ghazal."

A disturbing undercurrent I noticed in Chullikkad's writing is his sterile, almost impaired depiction of women. He might be afflicted with what could be the opposite of Oedipus complex -  utter hate towards mother and motherly figures. According to my armchair psycho analysis conducted a couple of minutes ago with the aid of YouTube, this was probably as a result of his strained relationship with his mother and grand mother during his formative years. He never recovered, and not only that, there is a lack of remorse or wisdom that comes with age, quite unlike what you would naturally expect from a sensitive poetic soul like him. Not all poets are made equal, some are made like James Dean, Balachandran Chullikkad is Malayalam literature's OG rebel without a cause.

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Neelavelicham the movie, Bhargavi Nilayam & a question for Aashiq Abu

Neelavelicham (literal translation: 'blue light', poetically liberal translation adopted by the filmmaker, 'blue radiance') is a famous short story by Malayalam literary giant and a renaissance man of simple tastes, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. It has been made into a movie half a century ago, at the time the director A. Vincent had titled it "Bhargavi Nilayam", the name of the fictional abode of the ghost lady in the short story. Bhargavi Nilayam has long since become synonymous in the Malayalam culture and lexicon as any building that has been taken over by ghostly presence(s) overstaying their visa status on the earth. About a decade ago I wrote a one paragraph review of the movie in this blog, when what I really wanted to talk about was that movie's hero - Madhu.

Not sure what Aashiq Abu, the director of this new take on the short story wanted to talk about by taking on the enormous risk of remaking an old blockbuster movie and a much-read short story of a beloved author. Everyone is going to have opinions and any fault is going to be magnified manifold and scrutinized to death. Maybe the man just loves taking risks in pursuit of honing his craft. This is what I like to conclude because I have always looked forward to Aashiq Abu's directorial outings and love to watch the technical improvement happening with each new release. Neelavelicham is no different in the technical department - production design, cinematography, casting, script are all excellent.

Tovino Thomas as Vaikom Muhammad Basheer has been styled and executed better than the suave Madhu who when you think about it reflected none of the life experience as a hotel manager, shepherd, sports goods agent, activist, watchman, fruit seller (to name a few) multi-faceted background of the real author. Roshan Matthews and Rima Kallingal's characters as the lead romantic pair is on par with Prem Nazir and Vijaya Nirmala's characters from the 1964 film and have been scripted to be digested by a contemporary audience. 

The production design recreating the era of the newly independent India where the story is set is probably one of the best I have seen recently in any Indian movie and is a welcome relief compared to the staged sets of the 1964 version. Not to blame any of these on the 1964 movie which was made at an age and a time when actors lived and emoted in a different plane than ordinary people and that sort of disconnect and staging was the norm. It is most evident nowhere else than the villain character Nanukuttan essayed in the 1964 movie by the stalwart actor P.J. Antony in blackface makeup. In the 2023 version it is Shine Tom Chacko, without any black paint on his face, but with the essential villainy captured through his acting and the script. The director has taken the same care to make necessary changes to make it a suitable for a contemporary audience, trimming down the length and dialogs.

The only question I have for Aashiq Abu is, if this was your take of Basheer's story Neelavelicham why did you take on the role of an editor or a quality analyst instead of being the ingenious director I have credited you to be? Neelavelicham (2023) is a scene by scene, quality improved copy of the 1964 Bhargavi Nilayam. You, Aashiq Abu, who has always given a relatable perspective on life through movies (especially to Millennial and Gen Z audience) whether it be Salt n Pepper or 22 F Kottayam or Da Thadiya or Idukki Gold or Mayanadhi, what stopped you doing from giving us a fresh take on Neelavelicham, instead of making a low-effort photocopy, albeit technically brilliant?

 

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